Toothbrush



Oct. 27, 1925. I 1,559,519

T. A. BUCKLEY I TOOTHBRUSH Filed Aug. 5. 1922 WITNESSES v INVENTOR 27x9. Baa-1:2

Arron/ms Patented Get 27, 1925 um'rso STATES.

1,559,519 PATENT .OFFIC 1;.

THOMAS ANDREW BUoxLmgoF BROOKLYN, nnw yonir.

TOOTHBRUSH.

Application filed August 3, 1922. Serial No. 579,391.

To all whomc'zf may concern.

Be "it known that I, Tnoams- ANDREW B oKLnY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented anew and Improved Toothbrush, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to new and useful improven'ients in brushes and it pertains more particularly to brushes especially adapted for cleaning the teeth.

It is one of the primary objects of the invention to provide a toothbrush in which a roll or wad of cotton or similar material may be carried by the brush in such a manner that the cotton or the like may be used for the purpose of massaging the gums, polishing the teeth, etc.

It is a further object of the invention to construct the handle of the tooth brush so that the cotton or similar material will be partially retained by reason of its engagement with the peculiar structure of the brush handle.

It is a further object of the invention, in addition to the above to provide separate means for retaining the cotton or other material in position on the brush.

It is a further object of the invention-to so construct the brush that the cotton or the like may be secured thereto with its longitudinal axis either in parallelism with or at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the brush handle.

With the above and other objects in view, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan View of the back of a tooth brush showing the cotton or other material arranged with its longitudinal axis parallel with the longitudinal axis of the brush handle;

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the brush with the cotton or other material positioned as in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of the brush handle with the cotton or other material removed;

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view taken on the line H of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view showing the roll of cotton or other material arranged with its longitudinal axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the brush handle.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference character 11 designates thebrush, 12 the head thereof, and 13 designates the handle. The handle 13 is curved as indicated by the reference character 14 and has its free end 15 positioned within the Y confines of the curve. This free end is enlarged as indicated by the reference charac ter 16, and said enlarged portion'forms a shoulder 17, the utility of which will be hereinafter more clearly pointed curved end is grooved as indicated by the reference character 18, and a plurality of openings 19 are formed in the side walls or In positioning the roll of cotton 22, it is laid in parallelism with the handle and is forced longitudinally thereof until its end coils within the curved portion of the handle 13 and engages the shoulder 17 of the enlarged portion 16 of the free end 15 of the handle. This action causes a roll in the cotton as indicated by the reference charac ter 23 and aids in retaining the cotton 22 in position. In addition to this means, a string of suitable material such as dental floss, indicated by the reference character 24, is knotted and passed through the openings 19 of the handle with the leads 25 thereof wrapped about the roll of cotton or other material as illustrated, the ends of said string being forced into the notches 21 with the extremities thereof inserted through the openings 20.

In that form of the invention shown in Fig. 5, the reference character 30 designates a roll of cotton or other suitable material and said roll is carried by the brush handle 13 by forcing thesame into the curved por tion 14 thereof with its longitudinal axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the brush handle. In this form of the in vention the.cotton ispositioned in such a out. Throughout the major portion thereof, said manner that it has two free ends 31, which may be used as polishing elements for the teeth or massaging elements for the gums.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides a new and i'Inproved toothbrush in Which a massagingelement is combined With and carried by the handle of the toothbrush in such a manner that the same is capable of use for treatment of the gums and polishing of the teeth. Furthermore, the invention provides a device of'this character in which the massaging or polishing element is capable of being readily attached to and removed from the handle of the brush.

I claim:

1. A holder for an implement for polishing teeth comprising a handle member hav one end c'urled,' the extremity of the curled end being disposed adjacent to but slightly spaced from the curled end portion of the handle member and being located Within the confines of the curve.

2. A holder for an implement for polishing teeth comprising a handle member havin'g'one end curled in spiral form to define a holding seat for the polishing element, the extremity of the spirally formed-end being disposed adjacent to but slightly spaced from the spirally formed end of the handle member to define a constricted inlet to the holding seat, the extremity of the spirally formed end and the portion of the spirally form-ed end opposite such extremity being reversely inclined and curved respectively to define converging approaches to both sides of the constricted inlet, the extremity of the spirally for-med end having a shoulder to aid in releasably maintaining the polishing element in the holding seat.

THOMAS ANDREW BUCKLEY. 

